Every third coin with Milda’s image has made its way to Europe

Every third euro coin with Milda’s image has found its way to Europe. The proportion of those coins in Latvia is 71% of all euro coins in circulation, according to monitoring data compiled by Citadele Bank’s CBL Cash Logistics service.

September’s monitoring was carried out in six cities in Latvia: Riga, Daugavpils, Jekabpils, Liepaja, Valmiera and Ventspils. One thousand coins in circulation in each city were analysed by the service. It was concluded that 29% of all one euro coins in use in the aforementioned cities came from other European countries. The proportion of Latvian euro coins has dropped 3% since September 2015.

The most common euro coins from other European countries found in Latvia are those from Lithuania and Germany – 7% and 5% of the total amount of euro coins in circulation. With 3%, Spanish euro coins are the third most common euro coins found in Latvia. Other euro coins in Latvia come from Italy (2.8%) and Estonia (2.3%).

The comparison also reveals some differences among certain cities in Latvia. The largest proportion of euro coins from other European countries in circulation is found in Jekabpils, where 625 out of 1,000 euro coins were those with Milda’s image and 375 – coins from other EU countries. In all other monitored cities, the proportion of Milda euro coins was larger by 100 units. Jekabpils is also the only one of the monitored cities where the most commonly found euro coins are those from Estonia.

Explaining the reduction of Latvian euro coins, CBL Cash Logistics CEO Baiba Cakste admits that «tourism is the main reason behind coins travelling around. Monitoring data provides a clear picture of Eurozone countries whose tourists like to travel to Latvia and to which Latvian tourists like to travel. We can conclude that Latvia is an attractive destination for Lithuanians, who travel here during winter and summer. Coins from Germany, Italy and Spain also form a large proportion in Latvia. Some of them were brought to Latvia by tourists and some – by Latvians who visited those countries.»

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